Sports: Blades blazing trail for women's hockey in Worcester

Walter Bird Jr. Editor @walterbirdjr/@worcestermag

Thursday

Nov 29, 2018 at 5:00 AMNov 29, 2018 at 8:35 PM

They haven’t beaten an opponent yet this season, but the Worcester Blades aren’t just about winning games. Oh, they want to win, to be sure. But this professional women’s hockey team is skating for more than pucks and points. They’re playing in a new city, building a new fan base, building a new future. And if that means taking some lumps along the way, well, they’re OK with that.

“Things will turn,” first-year head coach Paul Kennedy said of the team that moved from Boston to Worcester this year. “Will we win a game? I don’t know. I really don’t care, to be honest with you. We’re striving to win every game we play. We’d love to win every game. We’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

The chips, so far, haven’t been falling the Blades’ way, but not for lack of effort. The former Boston Blades play in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. In many cases, they’re playing teams whose players have competed at the highest levels. According to General Manager Derek Alfama, 75 percent of the players in the league play for their country either in the Olympics or as a national team representative.

“Our team doesn’t comprise any Olympians,” Alfama said. “It’s been a challenge for us, and that’s something my staff and coach Kennedy are working toward. It’s all about building a good foundation, which is what we’re doing this year.”

They are, in a sense, starting over. The Blades have been playing in the CWHL since 2010. They are no strangers to winning, having twice hoisted the Clarkson Cup as league champs, in 2013 and 2015. Boston, however, proved a tough market with competition inside — the Boston Pride are a women’s hockey team that plays in a different league — and out. Pro teams like the Bruins, Celtics and Red Sox — not to mention the Patriots not so far down the road in Foxborough — all nibble for fan support.

“We felt by moving the franchise out of Worcester, understanding what kind of fan base we have out there, we felt a new market would be a huge success for us,” Alfama said, noting the team has struggled the past few years since its last championship.

The Blades settled on Worcester, where a new hockey practice arena, the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Centre, had been built. It serves as a practice rink for the Worcester Railers of the ECHL, and now plays home to the Blades.

The team has averaged roughly 325 fans a game, according to Alfama, who said the number is higher than what the Blades were drawing previously. Declining to reveal specifics, he said merchandise sales have also been strong.

“At the end of the day, we’re 0-11, so I get it,” Alfama asaid. “I always felt heading into this, the overall plan was a three-year plan. It’s going to be a three- or five-year plan for us to bring the Clarkson Cup back home.”

In the meantime, the team is playing much better than its record, Kennedy said. Some players with the Boston Blades didn’t come over to Worcester, the core group consisting of new players, six of whom were Division I college draftees. Five additional undrafted free agents were also added. It has posed a challenge in building camaraderie, but Alfama said, “We’re making strides every day.”

“It’s definitely been a growing curve for them to be sure,” he said, “but at the end of the day, we’re responding. We’re a better team than we were at the end of September. We’re a better team than we were two weeks ago.”

Among the players are goalies Mariah Fujimagari, Jetta Rackleff, Jessica Convery and Lauren Dahm. Fujimagari has been has been getting most of the starts. Other key players include Alexis Miller and Lauren Williams on defense, and the three Turners: forwards Courtney Turner, Meghan Turner and Morgan Turner who, Kennedy, points out, are not related, “but are becoming sisters.”

Having women in Worcester playing hockey and serving as role models, Kennedy said, rises above the importance of wins and losses.

“Don’t forget,” he said, “you’re also building from the youth up. All those female athletes in Worcester, all those little girls that want to play ice hockey, they’re not looking up to an 0-11 team, they’re looking up to a professional athlete who’s ready to say hello to you and talk to you. They come up to you and want you to sign their shirt, or their stick. That’s what it’s all about.”

Not that winning isn’t important, and Alfama is confident that will come. As fans get a taste of what the Blades bring to the ice — and to the community — he believes their support will only grow.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “it’s women’s professional hockey and it’s a game a lot of people haven’t seen. We’ve literally scratched the surface in Worcester proper and the area. At the end of the day, I think women’s hockey is the fastest-growing sport in North America. I think those that haven’t come out, once they do come out they do get amazed by the level of play and what it’s like.

“Regardless of wins and losses, the passionate fans we have right now are very loyal. They’re the ones that will continue to come out. I think the future is so bright for us in the market, and to be able to to be the architect behind the scenes and strive to put a winner on the ice, it’s a challenge, and it’s something I’m excited to do.”